System and method for remotely controlling a camera

ABSTRACT

A system and method for remotely controlling a camera may include a telephony device communicatively coupled to a data network. The telephony device comprises at least one module adapted to generate a control signal in response to receiving a user command associated with dialing of an emergency telephone number. A camera may be adapted to start capturing images in response of receiving the control signal.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This continuation application claims the benefit of U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 11/958,454 filed Dec. 18, 2007, the disclosure ofwhich is expressly incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.

BACKGROUND INFORMATION

Various cameras may be connected to a network and used as surveillancecameras. For example, surveillance cameras have been implemented inareas such as homes, offices, banks, casinos, airports and conveniencestores. Sometimes, surveillance cameras may be monitored, that is, aperson may be assigned to watch images captured by the surveillancecameras in real time as the images are captured by the cameras. Also,images from surveillance cameras may be recorded in long term storagemedia (e.g., video tapes). Typically, there is no event worth monitoringand/or recording. As a result, resources (e.g., human, video tapes) areoften wasted.

Recently, some cameras have been equipped with motion sensors therebyenabling the cameras to capture images when triggered by motion.However, normal movement by any object in the view of motion sensor maytrigger the camera. Thus, the motion sensor technology does notcompletely solve the deficiency of wasted resources. There is a need foractivating (e.g., starting) a surveillance camera and monitoring theimages from the surveillance camera only when an emergency occurs.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

In order to facilitate a fuller understanding of the exemplaryembodiments, reference is now made to the appended drawings. Thesedrawings should not be construed as limiting, but are intended to beexemplary only.

FIG. 1 depicts a schematic diagram of a system architecture according toan exemplary embodiment;

FIG. 2 depicts a block diagram of a telephony device according to anexemplary embodiment; and

FIG. 3 depicts a flowchart of a method for controlling a camera using atelephony device according to an exemplary embodiment.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS

The description below describes servers, telephony devices, and networkelements that may include one or more modules, some of which areexplicitly shown, others are not. As used herein, the term “module” maybe understood to refer to computing software, firmware, hardware, and/orvarious combinations thereof. It is noted that the modules areexemplary. The modules may be combined, integrated, separated, and/orduplicated to support various applications. Also, a function describedherein as being performed at a particular module may be performed at oneor more other modules and/or by one or more other devices instead of orin addition to the function performed at the particular module. Further,the modules may be implemented across multiple devices and/or othercomponents local or remote to one another. Additionally, the modules maybe moved from one device and added to another device, and/or may beincluded in both devices.

It is further noted that the software described herein may be tangiblyembodied in one or more physical media, such as, but not limited to, acompact disc (CD), a digital versatile disc (DVD), a floppy disk, a harddrive, read only memory (ROM), random access memory (RAM), as well asother physical media capable of storing software, and/or combinationsthereof. Moreover, the figures illustrate various components (e.g.,servers, network elements, telephony devices, etc.) separately. Thefunctions described as being performed at various components may beperformed at other components, and the various components may becombined and/or separated. Other modifications also may be made.

FIG. 1 depicts a schematic diagram of a system architecture, accordingto an exemplary embodiment. The exemplary system 100 is provided by wayof example, as there are a variety of architectures and componentscapable of carrying out the methods disclosed herein. As shown, thesystem 100 may comprise a telephony device 102, a telephony serviceprovider 112, a telephony connection 106, a data service provider 114, adata connection 108, an emergency responder 124, a telephony connection126, a monitoring service provider 122, a media server 128, a camera 130and a camera connection 132. It is noted that system 100 illustrates asimplified view of various components included in a system forcontrolling a networked camera, and that other hardware devices andsoftware not depicted may be included in the system 100. It is alsonoted that the system 100 illustrates only a single instance of eachcomponent. It will be appreciated that multiple instances of thesecomponents may be used.

The telephony device 102 may be a device capable of being used as atelephone to make telephone calls. The telephony device 102 may becommunicatively coupled to the telephony service provider 112 via thetelephony connection 106. The telephony service provider 112 may becommunicatively coupled to the emergency responder 124 (e.g., police,fire department, medical, crime hotline, security company) by thetelephony connection 126. Thus, the telephony device 102 may establish atelephone session by dialing an emergency telephone number of theemergency responder 124. The emergency telephone number may be, forexample, 911, #77, local police, state police, fire department, etc. Thetelephony connection 106 may be a wired connection, a wirelessconnection, or a combination of wired and wireless connections. In oneexemplary embodiment, the telephony connection 106 may be a conventionalland-based telephony connection (e.g., Public Switched TelephoneNetwork). The telephony device 102 may be adapted to make telephonecalls through the conventional land-based telephony connection. Inanother exemplary embodiment, the telephony connection 106 may be apacket-based network (e.g., ethernet, TCP/IP network). The telephonydevice 102 may be adapted to make telephone calls through thepacket-based network (e.g., Voice-Over-IP (VOIP) phone). In one or moreexemplary embodiments, the telephony device 102 may be a computeradapted to make telephone calls (e.g., a desktop computer, a laptopcomputer).

In addition, the telephony device 102 may be communicatively coupled tothe data service provider 114 via the data connection 108. That is, thetelephony device 102 may be used as a data communication device tocommunicate data through the data service provider 114 (e.g., abroadband data service provider). For example, the telephony device 102may be capable of communicating data packets via a data connection 108.That is, the telephony device 102 may have an integrated component tohandle data packets, such as, but not limited to, data packets based onethernet protocols, or Internet Protocol (IP). In an exemplaryembodiment, the telephony device 102 may implement a plurality ofmodules as shown in FIG. 2. One or more modules of the plurality ofmodules may handle data packets as needed. The data connection 108 maybe wired (e.g., unshielded twisted pair, optic fiber), wireless (e.g.,IEEE 802.11 network, bluetooth connection), or a combination of wiredand wireless connections.

The data service provider 114 may provide a data gateway service for thetelephony device 102. That is, through the data service provider 114,the telephony device 102 may be communicatively coupled to the datanetwork 120. The data network 120 may be, for example, a packet switchednetwork (e.g., Internet, or World Wide Web), or any data network that iscapable of transmitting multimedia information (e.g., a surveillancenetwork used by authorities to monitor cameras at remote locations). Themultimedia information may be, for example, images, or audio signals,and may be transmitted in analog or digitized format. The data network120 may be a wired network, a wireless network, or a combination ofwired and wireless networks. In one embodiment, a wired connection mayinclude long-range optical data communications, local area network basedprotocols, wide area networks, and/or other similar applications. Inanother embodiment, a wireless connection may include long-rangewireless radio, local area wireless network such as 802.11 basedprotocols, wireless wide area network such as WiMax, infrared,bluetooth, and/or other similar applications. Other networks may also beutilized for connecting each of the various devices, systems and/orservers. Furthermore, data and/or multimedia content may be transmittedvia cable, FiOS, satellite, or other forms of signal transmission. Theemergency responder 124 may also be communicatively coupled to the datanetwork 120.

In one or more exemplary embodiments, the data service provider 114 mayalso be the telephony service provider 112. In these embodiments, thetelephony connection 106 may be carried by the data connection 108. Forexample, the telephony device 102 may be a VOIP telephone and thetelephony connection 106 may be a connection over the data connection108 (e.g., a broad band Internet connection).

The camera 130 may be communicatively coupled to the telephony device102 via the camera connection 132. In one exemplary embodiment, thecamera 130 may be a digital camera. That is, images captured by thecamera 130 may be digitalized for storage and/or transmission. Inanother exemplary embodiment, the camera 130 may be a non-digitalcamera. That is, images captured by the camera 130 may be stored and/ortransmitted in analog format. In one or more exemplary embodiments, thecamera 130 may be capable of capturing images continuously (e.g.,streaming video). In other exemplary embodiments, the camera 130 may becapture images by snap shots (e.g., one shot at a time). The cameraconnection 132 may be wired (e.g., unshielded twisted pair, UniversalSerial Bus (USB) cable, IEEE 1394 FireWire), wireless (e.g., IEEE 802.11network, bluetooth network), or a combination of wired and wirelessconnection. In one exemplary embodiment, the camera 130 may be anInternet Protocol (IP) camera and may be communicatively coupled to thetelephony device 102 by a packet-based connection (e.g., ethernet, orwireless ethernet).

The camera 130 may be adapted to be activated (e.g., start capturingimages) by a control signal from the telephony device 102. In oneexemplary embodiment, an activation control signal may remotely turn onthe camera 130 and start the camera. In another exemplary embodiment,the camera 130 may have a sleep mode. That is, the camera 130 may havean operational mode in which the camera 130 is powered on but does notcapture any images. In this case, the activation control signal mayactivate the camera 130 to start capturing images. For example, thecamera 130 may be connected to a home telephone (e.g., telephony device102), via the camera connection 132, and the camera 130 may be turnedoff or in the sleep mode. If an emergency situation occurs, the user mayuse the telephony device 102 to contact the emergency responder 124. Forexample, the telephony device 102 may receive a user command associatedwith the dialing of an emergency telephone number, such as 911. Inresponse to the user command, the telephony device 102 may generate acontrol signal and transmit the control signal to the camera 130 via thecamera connection 132. The control signal may activate the camera 130and the camera 130 may start capturing images. In one exemplaryembodiment, the user command of dialing 911 may be a user pushingbuttons for the digits 9-1-1. In another exemplary embodiment, the usercommand may be the user pushing a speed-dial button to dial a pre-storedtelephone number 911. In yet another exemplary embodiment, the usercommand may be a voice command causing the telephony device 102 to Bailthe emergency telephone number.

Further, the camera 130 may be adapted to send captured images to thetelephony device 102 in real time (e.g., as quickly as possible). Forexample, once activated, the camera 130 may establish a communicationsession with the telephony device 102. Through the communicationsession, the camera 130 may send captured images to the telephony device102 as soon as they are captured.

In one exemplary embodiment, the telephony device 102 may be registeredto the monitoring service provider 122. The monitoring service provider122 may host the media server 128, which may be communicatively coupledto the data network 120. Upon receiving a user command associated withthe dialing of an emergency telephone number, the telephony device 102may establish a communication session with the media server 128 inaddition to activating the camera 130. The telephony device 102 maytransmit the received images from the camera 130 to the media server 128as soon as they are received. Access to the media server 128 via thedata network 120 may be provided to the emergency responder 124.Therefore, the telephony device 102 may relay the captured images fromthe camera 130 to the monitoring service provider 122 (e.g., the mediaserver 128) in real time. Thus, the emergency responder 124 or themonitoring service provider 122 may watch the images as they are beingcaptured with little delay (e.g., network latency). And the emergencyresponder 124 may establish a communication session with the monitoringservice provider 122 (e.g., the media server 128) to watch the imageslive through the data network 120. The media server 128 may be, forexample, a computer server, or other hardware components capable ofbroadcasting images.

In one or more exemplary embodiments, communications between theemergency responder 124 and the monitoring service provider 122, andbetween the monitoring service provider 122 and the telephony device 102may be encrypted. Controlling access to a networked server andencryption of the network communication are well known in the art.

In one or more exemplary embodiments, the media server 128 may be hostedby the emergency responder 124. The telephony device 102 may establish acommunication session with the media server 128 of the emergencyresponder 124 and transmit images from the camera 130 directly to themedia server 128 of the emergency responder 124 through the data serviceprovider 114. In these exemplary embodiments, the monitoring serviceprovider 122 may not be necessary. The communication between theemergency responder 124 and the telephony device 102 may be encrypted.

In another exemplary embodiment, the media server 128 may be set up bythe data service provider 114. The telephony device 102 may establish acommunication session with the media server 128 and transmit images fromthe camera 130 to the media server 128 at data service provider 114.Access to the media server 128 over the network 120 may be given to theemergency responder 124. Therefore, the telephony device 102 may relaythe captured images from the camera 130 to the media server 128 of dataservice provider 114 in real time. The emergency responder 124 mayestablish a communication session with the data service provider 114 toreceive the images transmitted in real time through the data network120. Similarly, the communication between the emergency responder 124and the data service provider 114, and between the data service provider114 and the telephony device 102 may be encrypted.

In one or more exemplary embodiments, the telephony device 102 mayestablish a communication session with the media server 128 and/ortransmitting images from the camera 130 to the data network 120 only inresponse to receiving the user command of dialing the emergencytelephone number. Therefore, network resources may be preserved beforethe camera 130 is activated.

Also, in one or more exemplary embodiments, the camera 130 may also becapable of capturing audio signals in addition to images. In theseexemplary embodiments, audio signals may be captured by the camera 130concurrently with images and transmitted concurrently with the images.

Further, in one or more exemplary embodiments, telephony device 102 mayonly transmit partial data. For example, the camera 130 may be capableof capturing images continuously with 24 frames per second. All imagesmay be stored transmitted to the telephony device 102. However, themedia processing controller 222 may be adapted to transmit only 4 framesper second to the media server 128. Therefore, less bandwidth may beused and a lower-bandwidth connection to a media server 128 may besuffice. It should be noted that this capability may be implemented onthe camera 130. That is, the camera 130 may only transmit partial datato the telephony device 102.

Moreover, in one or more exemplary embodiments, the camera 130 may serveas the media server 128. In these embodiments, the camera 130 may beconnected to the data network 120 via a wired, a wired connection, or acombination of wired and wireless connections. For example, the camera130 may be an IP camera. The camera 130 may establish a TCP/IP socketcommunication session with the emergency responder 124 and transmitimages to the emergency responder 124 through the TCP/IP socketconnection. TCP/IP socket communication is well known in the art.

FIG. 2 depicts a block diagram of a telephony device 102 according to anexemplary embodiment. As shown in FIG. 2, the telephony device 102 maycomprise an user interface 202, application modules 210, a embeddedoperating system 204 and original equipment manufacturer (OEM) devicedrivers 230. The user interface 202, application modules 210, embeddedoperating system 204 and OEM device drivers 230 may form a multi-layeredarchitecture. It should be noted that the exemplary telephony device 102is provided by way of example, as there are a variety of architecturesand components capable of carrying out methods disclosed herein.

The user interface 202 may comprise one or more components to receiveuser inputs, for example, a keypad, a plurality of buttons, or voicecommands. Also, the user interface 202 may comprise one or morecomponents to display information to user (e.g., a Liquid CrystalDisplay (LCD)). In one exemplary embodiment, a LCD touch screen may beused to accept user inputs and display information to user. It should beappreciated that other suitable input/output devices and components maybe used instead of the LCD touch screen.

The application modules 210 may comprise a plurality of modules, whichmay include a call control statemachine 212, a utility controller 214, acamera controller 216, a telephone event handler 218, a networkcontroller 220 and a media processing controller 222. These modules maybe software modules implemented in any suitable programming languages(e.g., C, C++, Java). The communication between these modules may beimplemented in procedure calls as known in the art. Further, theapplication modules 210 may be on top of layers of the embeddedoperating system 204 and the OEM device driver 230. The embeddedoperating system 204 may be an embedded computer operating system (e.g.,an embedded Linux operating system, or a Windows CE). The OEM devicedrivers 230 may be OEM device drivers for hardware such as, but notlimited to, serial port, wireless (e.g., IEEE 802.11), Ethernet, USB,WEE 1394 FireWire. The embedded computer operating system and OEM devicedrivers are well known in the art.

The utility controller 214 of the application modules 210 may be amodule adapted to control peripheral devices connected to the telephonydevice 102. The utility controller 214 may work with a camera controller216 to control a camera communicatively coupled to the telephony device102. The camera controller 216 may be a module implemented to controlthe camera. The camera controller 216 may store information about thecamera. For example, information about the connection to the camera(e.g., IF connection, USB connection, serial port connection) may bemaintained by the camera controller 216. Also, features of the cameramay also be stored, such as, but not limited to, resolution of thecamera, zooming capability. Further, status of the camera may bemaintained, such as, but not limited to, connected by not activated,powered down, live transmission of media. In one exemplary embodiment,the camera controller 216 may communicate with a connected camerathrough the utility controller 214 for connections that are not based onTCP/IP protocols (e.g., serial connection, USB connection).

The network controller 220 may be a module implemented to controlpacket-based network communications. For example, the network controllermay implement one or more stacks of TCP/IP for IP networkcommunications. TCP/IP and network controller implemented for IP networkcommunications are well known in the art. The camera controller 216 mayuse network controller 220 to communicate with a camera that may beconnected by ethernet or wireless ethernet (e.g., IEEE 802.11).

The call control statemachine 212 may be a module implementing astatemachine. That is, the call control statemachine 212 may define aplurality of states (e.g., idle, dial tone, dialing, ringing,connected). The call control statemachine 212 may also define one ormore triggering events to trigger the call control statemachine 212 tochange from a current state to a second state. For example, picking up ahandset or pushing a button may be a triggering event from idle to dialtone. Other triggering events may be defined to trigger the state changefrom dial tone to dialing, from dialing to connected, from connected toidle, from idle to ringing, ringing to connected and connected to idle.

The telephone event handler 218 may be a module implemented to providetriggering events to the call control statemachine 212. For example,when a user dials a telephone number by pushing a series of buttons on akeypad or a touch screen, the telephone event handler 218 may capturethe telephone number being dialed by the user. The telephone eventhandler 218 may generate a triggering event and transmit the triggeringevent to the call control statemachine 212. The triggering event maycomprise the telephone number being dialed. The call controlstatemachine 212 may change from the current state to another state(e.g., from idle to dialing).

The call control statemachine 212 may be adapted to communicate with theutility controller 214. Communications may be implemented as a procedurecall like previously described. For example, a dialed telephone numbermay be an emergency telephone number of the emergency responder 124.After receiving a triggering event from the telephone event handler 218,the call control statemachine 212 may send a message about the emergencytelephone number being dialed to the utility controller 214. The messagemay trigger the utility controller 214 to activate a cameracommunicatively coupled to the telephony device 102.

The utility controller 214 may communicate the request to the cameracontroller 216. The camera controller 216 may determine the state of thecamera (e.g., in sleep mode or off). If the camera is connected via anIP connection, the camera controller 216 may send a command to activatethe camera to the network controller 220. The network controller 220 maywork with the embedded operating system 204 and an OEM device driver toactivate the camera. If the camera is connected via a non-IP connection(e.g., serial, USB), the camera controller 216 may send a command toactivate the camera to the utility controller 214. The utilitycontroller 214 may work with the embedded operating system 204 and anOEM device driver to activate the camera.

The utility controller 214 may further establish a communication sessionwith a data network. As previously described, the telephony device 102may be connected via a data connection 108 to the data service provider114. If the media server 128 (e.g., by data service provider 114, or bymonitoring service provider 120) is available, the utility controller214 may establish a communication session with the media server 128. Inthe previous example, the message about dialing the emergency telephonenumber may also trigger the utility controller 214 to work with networkcontroller 220 to establish a communication session to the media server128 over the data connection 108. In one exemplary embodiment, a TCP/IPsocket connection with the media server 128 may be established by thenetwork controller 220. TCP/IP socket connections are well known in theart.

After the camera 130 is activated to capture images, the cameracontroller 216 may request the camera 130 to transmit captured images.The media processing controller 222 may be a module implemented toprocess the received images. In one or more exemplary embodiments, themedia processing controller 222 may be programmed to communicate withthe media server 128. For example, the media processing controller 222may establish a communication session with the media server 128 over thedata connection 108, the media processing controller 222 may relay thereceived images to the media server 128. If the communication sessionhas not been established, the media processing controller 222 may buffer(e.g., store temporarily) the images received and request the utilitycontroller 214 to establish the communication session. In one or moreexemplary embodiments, the media processing controller 222 may wait forthe media server 128 to request the captured images before transmittingthe images. In these exemplary embodiments, establishing a communicationsession between the telephony device 102 and the media server 128 mayserve as a notification to the 128 that live images may be available.And the live images may be transmitted to the media server 128 uponrequest. For example, request and response of live images may beimplemented in TCP/IP socket communication.

In one or more exemplary embodiments, the application modules 210 maydefine an application programming interface (API). The API may be a setof procedure calls that an OEM device driver may implement to enable aperipheral device to respond to control commands. For example, thetelephony device 102 may define a set of procedure calls that a cameravendor may implement for the vendor's cameras to work with the telephonydevice 102. The procedure calls may determine how control signals (e.g.,activation, zooming) are to be sent from the telephony device 102 to thecamera 130 and how the camera 130 respond to the control signals.

FIG. 3 depicts a flowchart of a method for controlling the camera 130using the telephony device 102, according to an exemplary embodiment.The exemplary method 300 is provided by way of example, as there are avariety of ways to carry out methods disclosed herein. The method 300shown in FIG. 3 may be executed or otherwise performed by one or acombination of various systems. The method 300 is described below ascarried out by the system 100 shown in FIG. 1 and the telephony device102 shown in FIG. 2 by way of example, and various elements of thetelephony device 102 and system 100 are referenced in explaining theexample method of FIG. 3. Each block shown in FIG. 3 represents one ormore processes, methods, or subroutines carried in the exemplary method300. A computer readable media comprising code to perform the acts ofthe method 300 may also be provided. Referring to FIG. 3, the exemplarymethod 300 may begin at block 302.

At block 302, a control signal to activate a camera may be generated inresponse to receiving a user command associated with the dialing of anemergency telephone number. For example, a telephony device 102 mayreceive a user command associated with the dialing of an emergencytelephone number. In one exemplary embodiment, the telephony device 102may have an LCD touch screen as described previously, and the usercommand may be a button push on the LCD screen. In response to the usercommand, a control signal may be generated by the telephony device 102.One exemplary embodiment was described with reference to FIG. 2. Forexample, the telephony event handler 218 may capture the dialedtelephone number and trigger a state change in the call controlstatemachine 212. The call control statemachine 212 may cause theutility controller 214 to activate a communicatively coupled camera. Theutility controller 214 may use the camera controller 216 to generate acontrol signal for the camera.

At block 304, the control signal may be transmitted to the camera. Thecontrol signal may activate a camera communicatively coupled to thetelephony device 102 and may cause the camera to start capturing images.For example, the telephony device 102 may transmit the control signal tothe camera 130 to activate the camera 130 and cause the camera 130 tostart capturing images. The control signal may be transmitted over thecamera connection 132, which may be a wired connection, a wirelessconnection, or a combination of wired and wireless connections asdiscussed above with reference to FIG. 1.

At block 306, images from the camera may be received. For example, thetelephony device 102 may establish a communication session with thecamera 130 after the camera 130 has been activated. Images captured bythe camera 130 may be transmitted from the camera 130 to the telephonydevice 102 through the communication session.

At block 308, a request to transmit the received images to a mediaserver may be received. For example, the telephony device 102 mayestablish a communication session with the media server 128. In oneexemplary embodiment, the media server 128 may be maintained by amonitoring service provider 122. The media server 128 may send a requestto the telephony device 102 to request images captured by the camera130. The telephony device 102 may be connected to the media server 128via the data connection 108 and the data network 120. The dataconnection 108 and the data network 120 have been described in detailwith reference to FIG. 1.

At block 310, images may be transmitted to the media server. Forexample, through the communication session established between thetelephony device 102 and the media server 128, the telephony device 102may transmit the received images from the camera 130 to the media server128. The emergency responder 124 may connect to the media server 128 anduse a media player client to view the captured images in real time. Inone exemplary embodiment, the emergency responder 124 may be connectedto the media server 128 via a TCP/IP connection. The media player clientused by the emergency responder 124 may be an Internet web browser. Asdescribed previously with reference to FIG. 1, access to the live imagesmay be restricted, and the communication between the emergency responder124 and the media server 128 may be encrypted.

At block 312, a request to manipulate the camera may be received. Forexample, the camera 130 may be remotely controlled. To facilitatecapturing relevant images, the emergency responder 124 may send one ormore requests to manipulate the camera 130, such as zooming, changingangles. The one or more requests may be sent to the media server 128.The media server 128 may then forward the one or more requests to thetelephony device 102 through the communication session between thetelephony device 102 and the media server 128.

At block 314, control signal manipulating the camera may be transmittedto the camera. For example, in response to the one or more requests tomanipulate the camera 130, the telephony device 102 may generate one ormore control signals to manipulate the camera 130 as requested. The oneor more control signal may be generated and transmitted in accordancewith the set of APIs between the telephony device 102 and the camera 130as described previously with reference to FIG. 2.

While the embodiments described above may be directed to a telephonydevice and a camera to facilitate activating the camera in response toan emergency telephone call, it should be appreciated to one of ordinaryskill in the art that a plurality of cameras may be connected to thetelephony device and any one or combination of the plurality of camerasmay be activated by the method and system described herein.Additionally, it should be appreciated that the camera may capture audiosignals as well as images and audio signals may be transmitted relayedas well.

In the preceding specification, various embodiments have been describedwith reference to the accompanying drawings. It will, however, beevident that various modifications and changes may be made thereto, andadditional embodiments may be implemented, without departing from thebroader scope of the disclosure as set forth in the claims that follow.The specification and drawings are accordingly to be regarded in anillustrative rather than restrictive sense.

1. A system, comprising: a camera adapted to capture images in responseto receiving a control signal; and a telephony device communicativelycoupled to a data network, wherein the telephony device comprises atleast one module configured to: generate the control signal for thecamera in response to receiving a user command associated with dialingof an emergency telephone number; receive images transmitted by thecamera; receive a request to transmit images from the camera to a mediaserver; transmit the images from the camera to the media server via adata connection; receive a request from the media server to manipulatethe camera; and transmit to the camera the request to manipulate thecamera.
 2. The system of claim 1, wherein the camera is communicativelycoupled to the telephony device via one of a wired connection, awireless connection, and a combination thereof.
 3. The system of claim2, wherein the wireless connection is one of an ethernet connectionbased on IEEE 802.11 protocol, and a connection based on bluetoothtechnology.
 4. The system of claim 2, wherein the wired connection isone of an ethernet connection, a Universal Serial Bus (USB) connection,and an IEEE 1394 FireWire connection.
 5. The system of claim 1, whereinthe emergency telephone number is one of police, fire, ambulance, crimehotline, and security company.
 6. The system of claim 1, wherein therequest to manipulate the camera comprises at least one of: zooming in,zooming out, rotating shooting angle, moving vertically and movinghorizontally.
 7. The system of claim 1, wherein the telephony devicefurther comprises an embedded computer operating system.
 8. The systemof claim 7, wherein the embedded computer operating system is one of aLinux based system and a Windows based system.
 9. The system of claim 1,wherein the data connection to the media server comprises a lowbandwidth connection, and transmitting the images from the at least onecamera to the at least one media server via the data connectioncomprises transmitting a number of frames per second reduced from anumber of frames per second captured.
 10. A method, comprising:generating a control signal using a telephony device, for at least onecamera, in response to receiving a user command associated with dialingof an emergency telephone number; transmitting the control signal to theat least one camera, wherein the control signal causes the at least onecamera to capture a plurality of images; receiving images from the atleast one camera; receiving a request, at the telephony device from theat least one media server, to manipulate the camera; transmitting therequest to manipulate the camera from the telephony device to the atleast one camera; and manipulating the at least one camera in responseto the request to manipulate the camera.
 11. The method of claim 10,wherein the control signal is transmitted to the at least one camera viaone of a wired connection, a wireless connection, and a combinationthereof.
 12. The method of claim 11, wherein the wired connection is oneof a packet-based connection and a Universal Serial Bus (USB)connection.
 13. The method of claim 12, wherein the wireless connectionis one of an ethernet connection based on IEEE 802.11 protocol, and aconnection based on bluetooth technology.
 14. The method of claim 10,further comprising: receiving a request to transmit the images from theat least one camera to at least one media server; buffering the imagesprior to establishment of a data connection to transmit the images tothe at least one media server; establishing, from the telephony devicecommunicatively coupled to the at least one camera, the data connectionto the at least one media server; and transmitting the images from theat least one camera to the at least one media server via the dataconnection;
 15. The method of claim 10, wherein the emergency telephonenumber is one of police, fire, ambulance, crime hotline, and securitycompany.
 16. The method of claim 10, wherein the control signal isgenerated by a telephony device.
 17. The method of claim 10, wherein thecontrol signal is generated by a VOIP telephony device.
 18. The methodof claim 10, further comprising: receiving a command to manipulate theat least one camera, wherein the command comprises at least one ofzooming in, zooming out, rotating shooting angle, moving the cameravertically and moving the camera horizontally.
 19. The method of claim10, wherein the data connection to the at least one media servercomprises a low bandwidth connection and transmitting the images fromthe at least one camera to the at least one media server via the dataconnection comprises transmitting a number of frames per second reducedfrom a number of frames per second captured.
 20. A non-transitorycomputer readable media comprising code to perform the acts of themethod of claim 10.